1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical card connector, and particularly to an electrical card connector which has a reduced length thereby reducing occupying area on a printed circuit board.
2. Description of Prior Art
As the popularity of notebook computers increases, integrated circuit (IC) cards are becoming more common for increasing storage capacity or for interfacing the notebook computers with other devices. Card connectors are commonly used to connect mother boards of the computers with the cards. Most current IC cards and card connectors conform to the standard of Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (PCMCIA).
Conventional PCMCIA card connectors are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,601,438 and Taiwan Patent Application Nos. 84206174 and 84206175. Referring to FIG. 4, a conventional PCMCIA card connector 7 comprises a dielectric housing 71 and a plurality of terminals 72, 73 arranged in upper and lower rows. The dielectric housing 71 defines a plurality of receiving passageways 711, 712 in upper and lower rows for receiving corresponding terminals 72, 73. The terminals 72, 73 define mounting portions 72a, 73a received in the receiving passageways 711, 712. Contact potions 72b, 73b extend forwardly from the mounting portions 72a, 73a beyond the dielectric housing 71 to mate with an electronic card (not shown) inserted into the connector 7. Solder tails 72c, 73c extend rearwardly and downwardly from the mounting portions 72a, 73a and are soldered to a printed circuit board 8.
The terminals 72, 73 are mounted to the housing 71 by inserting the terminals 72, 73 into the housing 71 from a rear side of the housing 71. In order to have the solder tails 72c, 73c suitably spaced so that a short circuit between the tails 72c, 73c will not happen, the solder tails 72c, 73c are arranged in front and rear rows behind the housing 71. Such an arrangement causes the card connector 7 to have a large length, which in turn causes the card connector 7 to occupy a relative large area of the printed circuit board 8 of the notebook computer. The real estate of the printed circuit board is more and more precious due to the minimization of the notebook computer.
Hence, an improved electrical card connector is required to overcome the disadvantages of the conventional electrical card connector.